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Show News Review of Current Events the World Over France and Belgium Default on War Debts Great Britain and Four Other Nations Pay Drys Argue Against Legalizing Beer. By EDWARD W. PICKARD r?RA NOE. reputedly one of the rich est nations lu the world, li:is de faulted. For tlie first time In history It has broken Its pledged word, refus-Ing refus-Ing to pay the Decern f;r' ' -S ter war deht Interest '. t,.x'i,m installment of Sill, .'(.'' . 281.4112 due the Unit : '' ed States. This ae ! JJ tlon was taken by the 1 " chamber (,f dppntlcs , by a vote of 402 to ' S3W 187. while the gal-f gal-f : lerles roared the Na- 14, ' tionallst and Royalist America." The power-M. power-M. Harriot ful Socialist parly de sorted the government. Premier Merriot had made a tremendous tre-mendous fight, the most brilliant In his career, and when his defeat was an nounced he and nis ministers stalked out of the chnmber. The deputies then took another vote on a motion to defer payment until such a time as an International deht conference can be held, and this was carried, ,SS0 to 57. The Radical Socialists who had supported the premier's terms for payment pay-ment had left the chnmber before this vote was taken. Ilerrlot nnd his cabinet immediately submitted their resignations to President Presi-dent Lehrun and. as Is customary, were asked to carry on until a new government could be formed. Consequently Conse-quently It was necessnry for Flerriot to transmit to Washington the de- - clslon of the chamber. FOLLOWING a rapid exchange between be-tween London and Washington, Great Britain fulfilled expectations by paying the S!)f.fir0,000 ip principal and Interest due the United States on Thursday. HacDon L v aid's government had f proposed that the payment should not s w- jo be regarded as the s regular semi-annual Installment provided 1 for In the debt agree , ment. but as a pay f N ment on capltnl to be taken Into account In any future under- Sec'y Stimson standing. Secretary of State Stimson promptly replied declining declin-ing to accept the payment If accompanied accompa-nied by conditions that would amount to repudiation of the debt funding pact The British explained that they were merely setting forth their own position and reserving the right to recur re-cur to their arguments In the future examination of the whole question "to which the United States government has agreed." The officials In Washlngfon interpreted inter-preted the last British note as one of "mental reservations" and decided they could accept the payment without with-out committing the United States to any deviation from the terms of the debt settlement. So the Incident was considered closed so far as Great Brit aln was concerned. Belgium followed the example of France and defaulted. The cabinet council decided not to pay America the $2,125,000 that was due Thurday, explaining that the Hoover moratorium mora-torium nnd the Lausanne reparations agreement had deprived Belgium of . s substantial sums and that the deht l funding agreement of 1025 was based on Belgium's capacity to pay. Then the cabinet resigned. Italy, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia and Latvia paid up on the debt. Hungary, Poland and Esthonia did not pay. Poland Po-land has asked the United States to review the debt agreement on the ground that her Interest on the debt is unfairly high when compared to that which Italy pays. PRESIDENT-ELECT ROOSEVELT was aroused to wrath when the correspondent cor-respondent of the London Express sent a cablegram to bis paper misrepresenting mis-representing Mr. Roosevelt's views on the debt question. The dispatch said in part: "Let me at once clear up any misunderstanding mis-understanding there is at home concerning con-cerning what the new President is going to do about war debts. I gather from our conversation that on March 6 he is going to make a statement which I believe will bring some measure meas-ure of relief to a doubting world. "But although I have the best rea sons for believing that the Interest on the war debts may be waived, and perhaps some pretty hard conditions will be nttached to cutting off the Interest, In-terest, there is no possible shadow of doubt that the capital, representing al Roosevelt's own figure $11,000,000,000, will have to be paid every red cent of It-Governor It-Governor Roosevelt declared the story was made of whole cloth, that tie had refused to give the correspondent correspond-ent a "Christmas message for the world" and had declined to discuss with him the debts or anything else Lieut. Gov. U. H. Lehman, who was present when the Englishman saw the governor, asserted that nothing in any way justifying the cabled story had been said. The President-Elect took occasion also to deny a report printed In n Sacramento newspaper thai he would offer the portfolio of the interior to Senator Hiram W. Johnson. D El'RESENTATIVE LOUIS T. Mr-Kadden Mr-Kadden of Pennsylvania, who seems to dislike Mr. Hoover more than anyone else does, introduced a resolution resolu-tion seeking to Impeach the President on the ground that lie has failed to obey the mandate of congress against the cancellation of the war debts and has 'endeavored to nullify the con tracts existing between the United States and its debtors." In his talk the Pennsylvnnian even hinted al pos silile bribery. A motion to lay the Impeachment Im-peachment resolution on the table was npposed by only eiglil members, all Democrats except McFadden. PREMIER HEIililOT of France having accepted the agreement reconciling the equality demands ol Germany and the security requirements require-ments of France, the German govern ment consented to return to the dis armament conference and hopes for the success of that conference were revived. France. Ureal Britain and Italy declared that one of the aims of the conference is to give equality of rights to Germany and her allied powers within a framework of secur Ity for all nations. Britain. France. Italy and Germany affirmed they w6uld not resort to arms to settle disputes, and the same powers promised prom-ised to co-operate In a sincere effort to bring about disarmament. In Berlin this accord was consid ercd a distinct victory for Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Foreign Minister Min-ister Von Neurath. O EPRESENTATIVE DANIEL E. r Garrett of Houston, Texas, died in his Washington apartment after an illness of several months. He was a Democrat of great influence in the party and In the house, had served sixteen years In congress and was reelected re-elected in November. pXCEPT for the war debts beer L- was the chief topic of Interest in Washington. The house ways and means committee was conducting hearings on ' the legalizing mens- iJ ures, and It heard """"fT"! plenty in opposition j ,,j from both men and women. The gentler "4J sex came first and the things it said about beer were far from I 4 gentle. The women , were led by Mrs Ri ' Henry W. Pea body ot K V New York, general lijj chairman of the women's wom-en's national commit- Dr. A. J. Barton tee for law enforce ment. They told the committee that beer was responsible for 00 per cent of pre-prohibition drunkenness, and asserted that modification of the Volstead Vol-stead act was the entering wedge for the return of the open saloon. Then they warned that if Red revolution revo-lution and riots followed the passage of beer legislation the responsibility would be laid at the committee's door. Three congressmen and Dr. Leigh Coivin of New York also spoke in opposition op-position to modification. Next day the dry men, marshaled by Dr. A. J. Barton, executive secretary of the Anti Saloon league, took the floor. They included Canon W. S Chase, Deets Picket. Bishop James Cannon. Jr.. and others, nnd another woman. Mrs. Ella Boole, president of the National Women's Christian Tern perance union, was with them to add her arguments. One of the witnesses produced by the drys was Dr. Walter R. Miles of Yale, who told of experi ments he made with students tending to show that a 2.75 per cent alcoholic drink was intoxicating. He admitted the stuff he gave the hoys was not real beer but a concoction of grape Juice, sugar and alcohol. Secretary of the Treasury Mills was summoned by the committee to give estimates of the amount of revenue which would he derived from a tax of So on each barrel of legalized beer Little affected by all the dry arguments argu-ments it had heard, the committee went to work drafting the legalizing bill. The wets were confident they could put it through the house, but were not so sure they could muster n two-thirds vote to overcome a veto by President Hoover and there were reports that the Chief Executive would disapprove the measure on the ground that it would nullify the Eighteenth amendment The senators were discussing the relative merits of repeal and modification. modifi-cation. Senator Birah, a bone dry. said he liked the repeal plan offered by Senator Blaine of Wisconsin, who is very wet Mr. Blaine's resolution would amend the Constitution, first, by forbidding transportation of intoxicants intoxi-cants into any state or territory in violation vio-lation of its laws; second, by authorizing author-izing congress to enact laws to aid enforcement in dry states. This he would substitute for the Eighteenth amendment TRS. FRANKLIN D. RuoSEVEI. . " ' has called forth the shocked pro testations of prohibition women In va rious parts of the country by assert Ing In a radio talk that "toe average American girl of today faces the pn.ti lem of learning very young how much she can drink of such things as whisky and gin ar t sticking to the propel quantity." Siie was contrasting con ditions today with those m her youth when, as she said, very t. girls drank anything neyond a glas.-. of wine it: home "and it never would have occurred oc-curred to the young man lo carry a flask to an evening party. ' W F.TS in the house were defeated ' 'in two attempts to cut o:T funds for prohibition enforcement. Amend merits to the treasury supply bill de signed to slash S'.UHki.ikiO from the 1 ! '3 I appropriation for the coast guard were offered by Scliafer of Wisconsin and Boylan of New York, but botfi were voted down JAPAN was becoming more and more Isolated by developments in Geneva. The League of Nations conciliation committee of nineteen which Is now to handle the Sino J'XXfy Japanese trouble ovei F Manchuria. intended I . - lo ask the United ' Mates and Russia lo fpi&f- uave representatives s . : n tlie committee, but . "r-s. .i Tokyo instructed lis , loltgution at Geneva V: y to reject any such k Vwiwar . . . proposal. Indeed. Ja ft3' Si llin ''Ht'niKJs '" 'el ""' " committee settle the M. Litvinov controversy, thus dis regarding the friendly advice of Great Britain. Then Maxim Lilvinov, Soviet foreign affairs commissar, issued a statement that Russia and China are resuming diplomatic negotiations, that were riip tn red in 1027. He gave out the news after a parley with D. W. W. Yen. Chinese delegate at Geneva. This was looked on as a direct bid for recogni tion of Russia by tlie United Stales. "It is only when all states maintain relations with one another," Litvinov said, "that we will be able to speak seriously of International co-operation In the cause of peace, international observance of peace pacts and agree menls. and the creation of universally recognized and authoritative international interna-tional organizations." This was interpreted as an Intlma tion that Russian co-operation In settling set-tling the Manchurian dispute may ! conditioned on American recognition of the Soviets. At the same time it was taken as a veiled hint that Russia, if it is treated as it wishes, would con sider entering the League of Nations to collaborate in strengthening the peace pacts. A spokesman for the government in Tokyo said this action by what he described as tlie nations "most disturbing dis-turbing to the peace of the world" was "indirectly threatening" Japan. CHAIRMAN MARVIN JONES of the house agricultural committee Introduced In-troduced the Democratic farm relief measure in the house, the same being the allotment plan which is favored by President Elect Roosevelt. With this as a basis the Democrats hope to work out a bill that can be passed at this session. The Jones bill which applies only to wheat, cotton, tobacco, and hogs, provides virtually two plans in one. For 1033 the secretary of agriculture would fix the percentage of these commodities com-modities required for domestic con sumption. No means of curtailing production is provided. Thirty days after passage pas-sage of the act producers of the font commodities would be entitled to re ceive adjustment certificates on thai portion of their sales .falling within the domestic consumption percentage. The certificates would be issued al the rate of 42 cents a bushel for wheat. 5 cents a pound for cotton. 4 cents for tobacco, and 2 cents for hogs, less a small administrative charge. With passage of the act adjustment charges at these same rates would he levied on the processing of the four commodities. Tariffs at these rates would be levied on imports and an extra tariff of 5 cents a pound on short staple cotton and cotton goods would be imposed. PRESIDENT HOOVER. In the presence pres-ence of a group of distinguished persons, accepted on behalf of the nation na-tion the deed to the wooded island of Anolostan In the Potomac river which is now a natural shrine to the memory of Theodore Roosevelt. The President directed that it "shall hereafter be known as Theodore Roosevelt island and dedicated to the nation." Among those present at the ceremony were Mrs . Hoover. Mrs. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Secretary of State Stimson Stim-son and General Pershing. BLOODY fighting in the Chaco continues con-tinues between Bolivia and Paraguay, Para-guay, and It is estimated that the casualties already have reached 30,-ilOO. 30,-ilOO. The Paraguayan forces claim to have captured several forts recently nnd have seemed to be having the best of the conflict. But the Bolivians are greatly strengthened by the presence of Gen. Hans Kundt. the German ofii cer who is commanding them in the field. ONE of the "lame ducks" of the house, C. William Ramseyer of Iowa, has been provided for if the senate is willing. President Hoover has nominated him to be judge of the United States Court of Customs. Mr. Ramseyer headed the Republican campaign cam-paign speakers' bureau. 1931. Western Newspaper Dnlon. i |